Portraits of Us
by LitLover 101
Summary: Requested one-shot for Mia-Mikaelson-Forbes. This is a side-story-attached piece for In Veritas. Caroline agrees to allow Klaus a day with Fiona. As Klaus attempts to bond with his child; he finds that parenting comes with hazards. Fluff. Ft. Klaroline.


Requested one-shot for Mia-Mikaelson-Forbes. This is a side-story-attached piece for _In_ _Veritas_. Caroline agrees to allow Klaus a day with Fiona. As Klaus attempts to bond with his child; he finds that parenting comes with hazards. Fluff. Ft. Klaroline.

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The**__**Originals**_**. That would be Warner Brothers, Julie Plec and the usual suspects. **

**Hello, my lovely reader. This mainly Klaus' and his OC little girl's human hijinks and family fluff with a tiny slice of Klaroline. On with the show…**

**Portraits of Us:**

Not many things fazed Niklaus Mikaelson. He'd seen the devastation of war: the hunger, the fear, and the bits of humans torn apart by other humans' destructiveness. He'd seen his father's disregard for him, felt the contempt and disdain. He'd loved and hated, with equal measure his siblings, from time to time. He'd loved a woman with a passion that put the stars to shame and left him broken in a manner that felt inexplicable. However, he found himself—heart pounding in his chest, weak in the knees, a fine sheen of sweat on his brow—as he raised his fist to knock on a door and to see if he was a welcome sight.

Nothing made Klaus more afraid than today. Inhaling, he lifted his fist and he knocked on the door. Perhaps he should have placed more force behind the knock. But he feared for the door to open and for her to gawk at her unwanted suitor before wrinkling her nose up and running away from him.

Raising his fist, after a long two minutes, Klaus nearly jumped back when the lock snapped out of its place and the door flew open. "Hello," a gentle smile from the mother.

"Hello," Klaus replied. He slid his hands into his pockets.

"Come in," she said, waving for him to come in. She ran a hand through her curls and went to the hallway. "Fi, honey!" the mother called.

"Yes, Mommy!" A little girl came running down the hall. She held a doll close to her chest.

Narrowing his eyes, Klaus inspected the doll. Clearly the girl loved it very much. One of its button eyes was coming out. The dress was wrinkled. The hair needed a good rinsing. That doll must see a lot of the city of Chicago. Especially the grass and dirt at the playground. It made a tiny smirk come to Klaus' lips.

"Are you ready to go spend some time with your daddy today?" the mother asked, bending down and cupping the little girl's cheek.

Fiona peered up at Klaus. She pressed her doll over her lower face before lifting a hand. She waved for her mother to bend down and she cupped her hand to her mother's ear. Whispering something to her mother, Fiona eyed Klaus.

"I promise I'll be here when you come home, with cocoa." The mother straightened up, ran a hand through her child's curls—so much like Klaus'- before she went to the couch in the living room. Picking up a backpack, she went over to the little girl. "Promise you'll be good. Don't run off. Don't talk to strangers."

"Okay." Fiona bobbed her head up and down before a huge smile that was all her mother appeared on her face. Throwing both her tiny arms around her mother's neck, she squeezed.

"Love you to the moon and back," the mother said.

"Love you more," Fiona replied with a giggle.

"More than oranges?" the mother inquired, kissing Fiona's knuckles and pretending to eat them, making the child giggle loudly.

"More than chocolate. More than sunshine. More than snowflakes." Fiona shot Klaus a beaming smile which he returned.

"Good. Well, I love you more than the whole, wide world," the mother hugged Fiona one more time before she pulled back, tears shimmered in her eyes before she blotted them with her fingertips.

Taking her daughter's hand, the mother came over to Klaus and extended the tiny stranger—who also happened to be his child's—hand into his. "Be back on time. Here's a list of things she might want. Everything you need is in the bag. Good luck."

"Thank you, Caroline," Klaus placed a hand over her hand. For a moment they simply stared into each other's eyes before he let go and moved to the door.

"Have fun, honey!" Caroline called, following them to the door.

"Bye, Mommy!" Fiona waved to her mother.

The second they were in the hallway, Klaus felt the weight of the moment. This was the first time he would be sharing time with his daughter, all on their own. These would be the memories that shaped how she saw him as a parent, whether or not she trusted him and whether or not his relationship with his child and her mother would explode.

"Elevator!" Fiona cried, tugging her hand out of Klaus' and aiming for the elevator. She pressed the button and the doors came open. Springing inside, she grinned at Klaus and he watched in horror as her hand went up and the doors closed. This would be a long day.

~0~

Out of breath, Klaus stood outside the elevator doors. He stared at them, willing them to open and praying that Caroline did not already know what he'd done. He'd lost their child. His first five minutes alone with their off-spring and he lost her.

The doors opened and Fiona came flying out. Her legs carried her straight into Klaus' legs. Little arms linked around his legs and she peered up at him. "You found me! Let's do it again!" She turned to go back inside the elevator.

"Fiona," Klaus called. "I thought we could go to one of my favorite places in the city."

Fiona seemed torn between jumping back on the elevator and joining Klaus on whatever adventure he planned for them. "Where?" she asked.

"Do you like dinosaurs?" Klaus asked her, kneeling down to minimize the height difference between the two.

"What's a dino-sour?" Fiona asked, wobbling back and forth on the sides of her heels and sucking at her lower lip.

"They lived many, many, many years ago," Klaus told her.

"Like my dolly?" Fiona held up the doll for Klaus' inspection. "She lived a looooonnnnnggggggggg time ago."

Taking the doll, Klaus nodded. "Yes. I can see that. Did she come from the 1800s?"

"Nope." Fiona shook her locks, a playful smile on her face.

"Did she come from the 1000s?" Klaus played along.

"No!" Fiona cried; then she giggled. "When were you born?"

"1983," Klaus told his child.

"Dolly was born the same year," Fiona said. "That means you're super old, too!" She let loose a series of giggles, taking her doll and running little circles around him. "Old-y, old-y, old-y Daddy!"

"I suppose," Klaus shook his head. "But you know Santa doesn't like name-calling, sweetheart," he added.

Fiona stopped and gawked at him. "You know Santa?"

"I might." Klaus nodded. "And Santa loves dinos. We might even meet him at the museum."

"What's a mus-umm?" Fiona cocked her head to the side.

Klaus sighed internally. It looked like he had a lot to teach his little girl.

~0~

"The big one's going to eat me up!" Fiona cried. She pressed her face into Klaus' pants' leg. He could feel her tears moistening his jeans.

Leaning down, Klaus picked her up. "Darling, look at me." He cupped her chin and made her look at him. Her bottom lip puckered out as she looked at him through glassy eyes. "It can't hurt either of us. It's dead."

"What's dead mean?" Fiona asked, glancing at the T-Rex behind them. She inhaled, her eyes widening before she buried her face in his shirt. "It's going to get me!"

"Dead means that it can't do anything. Okay?" Klaus rubbed her back. "It used to move about and eat up lots of other dinos. But little girls did not run and play when the dinos ran about." He watched Fiona raise her head and her brows came together.

"Really?" Fiona glanced back at the Dino. "Is it older than you are?"

"Yes." Klaus nodded. "Older than my mother, too."

"You have a mother?" Fiona brightened up. "Like my Mommy?"

"Yes," Klaus said.

"She's your mommy…so is she my grandmommy?" Fiona asked, beginning to bounce on Klaus' hip. "Do I have another grandmommy? Grandmommy Liz gave me dolly for Christmas! Will your mommy give me Christmas presents?"

Now, Klaus couldn't help but laugh. He should have seen where this was going. "Yes. She will. She'd give you birthday presents, too. And you have uncles. And aunts. And they're going to get you presents."

"Really?" Fiona's eyes widened and Klaus watched as the little gears began to churn out a heap of presents coming her way. Then a huge smile appeared on her face. "Cool."

"Very," Klaus nodded. "Let's see what's on Mommy's list, shall we?"

"Shall we?" Fiona tried to imitate Klaus' accent and giggled.

"We shall," Klaus pulled the list out of his pocket and glanced at it.

No Scary Things was number five. Klaus glanced at Fiona who looked back at him like she knew what he was thinking.

"How about we don't tell your mommy about that one?" Klaus nodded at the T-Rex.

Fiona nodded. "Can we go to the park?"

Klaus nodded. Hopefully it would be safer there.

~0~

"Fiona, love! How did you get up that big tree!" Klaus shouted. He'd only consulted his phone for half a minute to check the time. A client had sent an e-mail and Klaus glanced at it. Now, his daughter had found her way up a tree. A very tall tree.

Groaning, Klaus stared at the little girl who stared back at him. He could see panic taking over as Fiona held onto the trunk. "Daddy! I'm scared! I don't want to fall down!"

"It's okay, baby! Just hang on! Daddy's coming up to get you!" Klaus shouted. He took the bag that Caroline gave him and set it at the base of the tree. He did not have time to worry about someone stealing it. He had a child to save.

"Dad-dy!" Fiona shouted.

"There's a little girl up there! Someone call the police!" a woman cried, placing her hand over her chest.

A man came over to place his hands on his hips. "Stupid Millennial parents. In my day, men knew how to climb trees."

"You're supposed to call the fire department. They have ladders. Cops don't," another on-looker stated. "Hey, kid! Hold on! The real heroes are coming!"

"I wa-n-t m-y mom-mmm-yyyyyyyy!" Fiona wailing, her body shaking.

"Everyone, shut the bloody hell up!" Klaus snarled at the on-lookers.

They didn't even bother to look at him.

With another growl, Klaus moved to the first limb. He placed his weight on it, found it did not budge and reached for a higher limb. "Man, wait for the firefighters. Don't be a hero!" the on-looker who loved firefighters shouted.

"See! See, this is what I mean. Back in my day, a man would be halfway up there. Not these kids. They go to their fancy gyms and get on the 'rocky wall' with that thing attached to them; so they don't get a wittle bruise. In my day, real men would battle a hornet's nest to save that little girl and then go for a five K in ten feet of snow."

"That's bullshit!"

"There's a child, watch your mouth!"

"She's gonna fall! We'll be on the six o-clock news."

Klaus inhaled and exhaled until he was close to Fiona. "Honey, I'm coming."

"Hurry!" Fiona cried.

"By God, he's almost got her! Looks like the useless generation can do something right. Now, get out of the way. Don't want him to use us as his mat when he falls. They didn't teach them to fall either. In my day, men knew how to fall. Nowadays, they can't fall off the side of a cliff without a spinal injury this and concussion that…"

Klaus decided to tune all of the background noise out. "It's okay, Fiona." He moved to the branch under Fiona's. Holding out an arm, he waved a hand to her, "I've got you."

"No," Fiona shook her head. A frantic look was on her face. "I can't."

"Fiona, please." Klaus watched Fiona look at his hand. Her eyes went to the ground below and she let out a half-scream, half-whimper. "Fiona. Come." Klaus placed as much parent into his tone as he could.

"You'll drop me," Fiona cried, gulping down a sob. "I don't want to be like the dino-sour!"

"I won't. I promise," Klaus said.

Fiona sucked at her lower lip and puffed out her checks. "'Kay. Don't drop me." She edged over, and Klaus slid his hand around her back, tugging her down. His full concentration was on getting his child down from their perch. Her arms had wound around his neck and were working toward choking the last bit of breath out of him.

"Maybe he's a firefighter," one of the on-lookers said.

"I think I saw him in this year's calendar."

"Not that nudie thing."

"Umm. Well…"

Sliding off the branch that felt close enough to the ground, Klaus set Fiona on her feet and sighed. "See, love. You're alright."

"Thank you, Daddy!" Fiona beamed and attached herself to his leg.

"Man, you're a hero!" one of the on-lookers cried, coming over to clap Klaus on the back. "Bet the parents will thank you."

"I am the parent," Klaus snapped.

"In my day, kids didn't climb up trees and get stuck…"

Klaus took hold of Fiona's hand. "Let's get the bag and leave." Turning away from the on-lookers and their unsolicited commentary, Klaus took his daughter's hand and went in the direction of the bag. His mouth turned downward and his eyes darkened as he took in the empty spot where the bag should be. Grass. Leaves. No bag.

Edging around the base of the tree, Klaus continued his search as his jaw began to clench and his free hand balled into a tight fist. Someone bloody well stole the bloody bag. Chicago and its allure for thieves and the occasional fool who left their belongings unattended. Rolling his eyes; Klaus knelt down. "It looks as if we will have to go on with it without the bag."

Fiona's chest rose and fell as her eyes went to a spot close to the base of the tree. Eyes widening, tears began to fill them again and the same look of horror she displayed while they were high up in the tree took shape. "Daddy, my doll. Dolly was in the bag!" Fiona cried. She took hold of his shoulders. "I want my doll!" For a moment Klaus envisioned his small child shaking him as Caroline might have if he'd lost something precious to her.

"Oh," Klaus bit back the word "shit." Trying to think of what he did when Rebekah was small and lost a toy; Klaus pulled Fiona into a hug. "Don't worry, love. I'll get you a new one." No. Not the right thing to say.

"Nooooooo!" Fiona screamed in his ear. "I want MY doll!" Fiona's tiny voice made Klaus want to slam his hand over his ear.

Sighing, Klaus pulled back and stood up. Should he go to the local police station and report a missing doll? They could care less about the bag. Nothing important. People lost things all the time.

"Hey, man," Mr. I Love Firefighters came over to join them. "Somebody in a hoodie grabbed your bag."

"And it didn't occur to you to tell me that when I came down?" Klaus demanded.

The on-looker shrugged. "Thought you were busy playing hero." Turning around, the stranger went back to arguing with his new friends, The On-lookers Club.

Klaus looked down at Fiona who looked at him like he could fix this. "Sweetheart, a bad person came and took your doll" would not suffice." Perhaps a credible enough lie would. Horrible, horrible parenting. Klaus knelt back down and began a semi-complicated story. "Fiona, darling," Fiona gazed at him with a down turned lip. "When you were scaling that magnificent tree, Dolly told me a story. She said long ago she had a child. One day someone took her little girl. Dolly thought she'd never see her little girl again…"

Fiona pushed her curls behind her head with one hand and cocked her head to the side. Caroline gave him that same look when she was sceptical about a story he told her. "Then what happened?"

"Well, Dolly used to cry for her daughter. Then one day she came to live with a sweet little girl named Fiona. And for Dolly it made it just a teeny bit easier for her to not miss her daughter. But Dolly still hoped one day she would find her daughter again. Today, she got a note from her daughter." Fiona placed her hand on her chin, her eyes bright and a small smile beginning to dawn on her face. "And it was from Dolly's daughter. She said she missed her mommy, very much. And hoped she could come home now. Dolly felt very bad. Because she loved Fiona. And she did not want Fiona to be sad that Dolly had to leave. So, she asked me to tell you what happened."

"She's with her daughter?" Fiona asked.

"Yes." Klaus inhaled, hoping Fiona would like the end of the story.

"She got out of the bag. And ran to find her baby?" Fiona's eyes now shown with light. "She's happy?"

"Very happy, love," Klaus replied.

"Okay." Fiona threw her arms around Klaus' neck. "Can we get ice cream?"

"Yes." Klaus felt so happy that he had not broken his daughter's heart.

~0~

Standing outside the door to Caroline's apartment, Klaus hoped Caroline would not kill him for balling her list and tossing it in a bin. It included most of the things he'd done today. No sugar before four in the afternoon. A proper lunch. No dangerous things. No scary things. A nap. Snacks were in the bag. DON'T LOSE THE DOLL!

Klaus lifted his hand and knocked on the door. It opened ten seconds later. Caroline blew some stray hairs out of her face and pretended to not have been pacing about while waiting for them to return. "Hi!" she greeted before leaning down. "Hi, baby! How was your day with your daddy?"

Fiona giggled. "Fun!"

"Oh?" Caroline smiled, taking Fiona's hand and leading her inside. "What did you do?"

"Oh, this and that," Klaus replied before Fiona could reply. Fiona looked up at him and Klaus winked at her. A small smile creeped onto her face before she ran down the hallway.

"So, she's alive," Klaus remarked, stepping inside the apartment.

"Ha-ha!" Caroline retorted, closing the door behind him. "You're just lucky she's potty-trained."

"Yes, going into the lady's loo and being hit by a granny's purse and being called a pedophile was great fun. Thank you!" Klaus found himself grinning anyhow.

Caroline shrugged. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure," Klaus surveyed the room when he spotted something on a chair. He glanced at Caroline's back as she busied herself in the kitchen area. With quick strides, Klaus went over to pick up the bag. "What is this?" he demanded, holding up the bag.

"What?" Caroline had just started to pour a glass of wine when she turned and her eyes went wide. "Oh, no!"

"You're a bloody thief!" Klaus hissed, marching over to Caroline to wave the bag at her. "You stole your own bloody bag! Did you follow us about all day like some kind of crazed stalker?"

Caroline bit her bottom lip. "Maybe," she picked up the glass of wine and took a long sip.

"Right then." Klaus shook his head. He opened the bag and removed Fiona's doll. "Got something I can place this in?"

"Maybe. Why?" Caroline looked confused.

"Tell Fiona I will be back tomorrow," Klaus said as Caroline dug in a cabinet and offered him a plastic bag. He did not say another word before he left his shocked girlfriend in her kitchen.

~0~

The next day, Klaus knocked on the door. He held a large cardboard box in his arms. He'd been up into the wee hours of the night and this thing had become a bit unwieldy as he added more and more to it.

After what felt like an eternity, the door opened and Caroline's brows went up. "Let me in!" Klaus groaned.

"Okay," Caroline stepped to the side and Klaus edged the box in sideways. "What is that?" Caroline asked.

"A gift," Klaus replied. "Fiona, love!"

"Daddy!" Fiona came running down the hallway. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the box. "What's that?" she asked.

"This is a present," Klaus said, patting the side of the box.

"It is? For me?" Fiona asked, her eyes going huge. "What is it?"

"We'll have to find out, won't we?" Klaus looked to Caroline. "Will you get me a knife, please?"

Caroline looked a little uncertain but she went and got him a little knife which would be just sharp enough. "Fiona, stand with your mother." Klaus waited until Caroline had her hands on Fiona's shoulders before he began to carefully carve the box open. He took each wall of cardboard down as Fiona and Caroline "Ohhhed and "Ahhhed."

Underneath the cardboard was a complicated house with three stories to it. A background with trees and a little play-set with slide and swings. Opening a little door, Klaus waved for Fiona to come closer. "I think someone you know is in here."

Fiona peered inside. "My doll!"

"And I think she has someone with her," Klaus reached inside the top of the house and pulled out a brand new baby girl doll. "It's Dolly's daughter."

"Oh!" Fiona took the baby carefully and cradled the new toy. "And you brought their house, too."

"Dolly missed you. And she realized she could live here, too, with her favorite girls in the whole world." Klaus said, stroking Fiona's hair with one hand and handing the small knife back to Caroline. "You like it?"

"I do! It's the best present! Ever!" Fiona cried, throwing one arm around Klaus' neck. "You're the best daddy, too."

Klaus closed his eyes. This life. This is all he wanted. "And you're the best daughter, too."

Fiona giggled. "Are you and mommy going to have another baby? I want a sibling."

Klaus looked at Caroline and they laughed nervously. "Maybe next year," Klaus said, kissing the top of Fiona's head. Right now, he would content himself with their little family of five: Klaus, Caroline, Fiona, Dolly and Dolly's baby.

**Thank you for reading, faving, following and reviewing. **

**Peace,**

**-J**


End file.
